Iron Man

A wealthy industrialist visiting Afghanistan is held captive in enemy territory and escapes by building a high-tech suit. When he returns home, he decides to use his money, talents, and suit to save the world.

Never been an Iron Man fan. So probably lucky Robert Downey jnr played the character, otherwise I'd never have watched it.
Am only watching now after all this time to see how all the movies go into the MCU.
Acting was well enough. Some scenes boring or maybe just cliched.
Loved the soundtrack.

Or the first one.
In 2008, as I exited my local Cineplex after the end of [Iron Man], I did not foresee the stunning global success of what would become the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), every year. “[Iron Man] was a good film,” I thought to myself. It was a grounded late-2000s film with relatively modest stakes—the villains were terrorists and capitalists. Its competition was Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, films where verisimilitude was king. Sure, I had read the comics and I had read Jim Starlin’s The Infinity Gauntlet, but I did not foresee this rollercoaster that we’ve all been on for a decade….
[Iron Man] remains an exciting, funny, competently directed film (by Joe Favreau who also plays Happy Hogan). But more significantly, this was an iconoclastic superhero film. Yes, it was very much a product of its time: a soul searching hero caught up in America’s Global War on Terror, the parallel war at home, and the sins of the father. However, it was also the start of something new: a brilliant and driven hero who flouted society’s restraints in all the ways that amuse us, blessed with ample luck, missing a heart, with a giant target painted on his back, and with no patience for secret identities.
That and the MCU.
There’s a common criticism in film: it’s bad for an actor’s personality to overshadow one’s character. Is Jim Carrey playing Ace Ventura or himself? Is Jesse Eisenberg playing Lex Luthor or Jim Carrey’s version of the Riddler? Yes, Robert Downey Jr. isn’t playing Tony Stark, as Stark was originally written as a communist spy smashing “cool exec with a heart of steel” (The Marvel Super Heroes, 1966). But, that’s a good thing, because the original Tony Stark was boring.
Instead, we’ve got an idiosyncratic genius with a guilty conscience who believes that he can fix anything despite a list of personality flaws.
Technicals. The special effects were realistic enough. The Iron Man suits were cool. The film had an adequate, though unmemorable score. Ditto the cinematography.
Writing: it was okay, with some really good dialogue mixed in with the filler. The non-action scenes were mostly boring.
Casting: a casting coup. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. Gwyneth Paltrow is Pepper Potts. The multi-billion dollar MCU franchise would not exist without either. With Joe Favreau as Happy Hogan, Paul Bettany as JARVIS, Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. A decade on, all five are still playing their MCU roles even now. Terrence Howard was okay but unmemorable as James Rhodes, as was the rest of the cast. And despite being given one of those throwaway supervillain roles, Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane is an intriguing character. A hard-working arms dealer with no compunction to kill but who rides a Segway at work. Wut?

Iron Man turns 10 years old this year and with Infinity War coming up, I wanted to go back through and re-watch the MCU. The first film is excellent and is surprisingly well grounded. Robert Downey Jr. excels as Tony Stark and Jeff Bridges does very well as the main villain. Still one of the better MCU films, Iron Man begins Tony's heroic journey and sets in motion plot threads that laid the groundwork for what was to come. Just a great movie with humor in appropriate places and action scenes peppered in here and there before the climax. A must for Marvel fans and the first in Phase 1 of the MCU. This is one that started it all.

The jokes are timed beautifully. The character makes total sense and people are ACTUALLY trying to make an iron man suit now. They've got some issues to get around but, like Star Trek, they're going to keep going until "cool" is attributed to their names too!

***SPOILERS***
With Tony Stark’s wit and unbelievable intelligence, an adorable romance, and an awe-inspiring and impressive story about building yourself up from nothing, Iron Man is certainly an excellent debut to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The cast of Iron Man is incredible; the acting is superb and Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) have an amazing chemistry that makes their romance in the film very believable and adorable. Robert Downey Jr. portrays Iron Man extremely well, achieving the humour of the cocky billionaire inventor but also being able to capture the character’s hurting and sadness that he tries so hard to hide. The CGI is stunning, especially with Iron Man’s suit and the action the character becomes involved in which includes very well-animated explosions. The plot is very unique and original with Tony Stark’s inspiring story, which I won’t spoil, and it’s so well constructed that the characters are able to undergo excellent and reasonable character development, and it provides the villain more depth and secrecy that changes the course of the plot. The music was selected wisely; upbeat songs are played strategically to contrast against the more serious moments of the film and to balance the tone and mood of the film overall. The movie also has an intriguing intro that gives viewers a glimpse of what the story’s like, and it captures the audience’s attention instantly. 5/5 stars.
- @demi.god.on.a.mission of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library

I really like this movie just because of Tony Stark’s humour and ideas. My favourite part was basically all the fighting scenes because I am a big fan of action movies. Tony’s idea of building a suit in a cave room surrounded by CCTV cameras was not the greatest idea ever and I thought he might get caught in the CCTV cameras, but he didn’t which was kind of surprising to me. You would think he gets caught but nope. The sad part for me was when Yinsen died; sacrificing himself so Tony could escape for his suit.
This movie was great in terms of action. Robert Downey Jr. did a great job in playing the role of Iron Man and Tony Stark.
- @leomeme of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library

Tony Stark, a genius billionaire, arrives in Iraq for a weapons presentation. Stark is attacked and this results in shrapnel piercing his chest, almost killing him. Stark is captured and is imprisoned for three months. During this time, Stark makes use of his technical prowess and begins building an iron suit that would eventually allow him to escape the confines of the cave. He is able to escape the cave and learns of an evil plot, and decides that as Iron Man, he will protect everyone. Upon his homecoming, Stark begins to work on the new Iron Man suit to perfect it. Rating: 3/5
- @JuiceboxZ of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library

My old man had a philosophy. Peace by definition means having a bigger stick than the other guy so, I feed the good dog. We arm the good guys because you can be sure as s@#t someone is arming the bad guys. - Tony Stark

Is it better to be feared or respected? I say.....is it too much to ask for both? Some people prefer the weapon you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I PREFER the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how dad did it, that's how America does it....and it's worked out pretty well so far.

Playboy and wunderkind genius Tony Stark, who has inherited the defense contractor Stark Industries from his father, is in war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard) to demonstrate the new "Jericho" missile. Stark is critically wounded in an ambush and imprisoned in a cave by the terrorist group the Ten Rings. An electromagnet built by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) keeps the shrapnel in Stark's chest from reaching his heart and killing him. Ten Rings leader Raza (Faran Tahir) offers Stark freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group, but Tony and Yinsen agree Raza will not keep his word.